30 Mar 07

Oxford University's Bodleian Library is publishing two new titles to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. The Slave Trade: Contemporary Writings For and Against contains the writings of pamphleteers expressing their views on abolition in the 1780s and '90s. Also published is the Memoirs of Captain Hugh Crow: The Life and Times of a Slave Trade Captain, a first-hand account of a Captain who was amongst the last to be actively involved in transporting slaves across the Atlantic.

In The Slave Trade: Contemporary Writings For and Against, the pamphleteers consider a number of issues including: humanitarianism and the rights of man; the economics of slavery for Britain's colonies; merchant shipping and the Royal Navy; and also the economic and moral condition of the slaves themselves. The authors who supported the trade include the Duke of Clarence, later King William IV and Sir John Gladstone, father of the later Prime Minister, William Gladstone. Also featured are the writings of a well-known anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson and vicar and surgeon, James Ramsey, whose journal extracts are being published for the first time, and include 'model answers' for abolitionists preparing to go before a committee of enquiry.

Captain Hugh Crow, who commanded the last vessel to make a legal journey across the Atlantic, gives a rare first-hand account by a defender of the trade. He considered himself enlightened because of his concern for his captives' welfare and, according to his account, his warm attachment towards some individual slaves was reciprocated. His memoirs give a detailed description of the everyday workings of the trade and the harsh conditions at sea, as well as providing social comment on conditions in both West Africa and the Caribbean.

Rhodes House Librarian John Pinfold, the author of introductions to both books, said: 'We have drawn the material for both books from the extensive collection within the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House. It provides real insight into how contemporaries viewed the slave trade and the debate about abolition. The memoirs of Hugh Crow are an almost unique opportunity to understand the slave traders' own experience and views.'